Awkward Situation - Thanks Sovereign Bank

[BostonSully]

This morning when I walk into the office and sit at my cube my boss comes over to me pretty quickly. 'Hey Dan this guy called for you from Sovereign Bank last night he sounded serious he said his name was Chuck'
He gave me this # to call 8778988468 (that is sovereigns collections line).

Heres the facts:
I have never even been in a sovereign bank.
I have never considered using them.
They called my Boss not me
Let me stress that they called my Boss not me about collecting money.
My bank accounts are fine and dandy I never overdraft and am satisfied with BAC.

Now, I have a huge problem with this. Why did they call my boss at work, not me. On his work phone and create this problem for me. The more I think about it the angrier I am getting its really a bad spot to put someone in. To make their Boss think they owe a bank money. He gave me a sarcastic glance something that I have never been the recipient of but seen before and would not like to receive again. I explained it to him he seemed to get it but was still confused about why the would call him, as was I.

I called the number and talked to the woman on the line. Gave her my DOB told her I live in MA and my Middle Initial. She found no records, she asked if I lived in swampscott I told her no. Then she asks for my social security number and I got mad again. I told her if Ive never even done business with you and you caused me this situation why would I give you my social?? I hung up on them.

Now Im considering filing a complaint with corporate. What do you guys think is this inappropriate behavior from the bank? Am I justified in filing a complaint against them, I dont want anything just an apology for the position they put me in, for no reason. Would you do it if they created a bad spot for you to be in at work, even though you've never even dealt with that company?

I know its a golf board but you guys here all seem to be mature and intelligent and I figured I could get a better answer on here than anywhere else.

[Yukari]

Asking for SS is a suspect. They should only ask for the last four digits of your SS not the entire SS. You should never give out your entire SS unless you know it is 100% safe. When I get a call from a business that purported to have done business with and ask for my SS, I never give it out. I ask them to tell me what the SS is that they have associated with my name. A lot of times I hear click and that is the last time I hear from them.

In this situation, it looks like the bank got the wrong information. I would just ignore it.

[BostonSully]

Asking for SS is a suspect. They should only ask for the last four digits of your SS not the entire SS. You should never give out your entire SS unless you know it is 100% safe. When I get a call from a business that purported to have done business with and ask for my SS, I never give it out. I ask them to tell me what the SS is that they have associated with my name. A lot of times I hear click and that is the last time I hear from them.

Wow dude I am getting really angry now. I called another #1-401-432-0749 which is their customer support line from thier website. I talked to a rep he kept asking if I could have an old account and the answer is NO! I told him how they put me in a bad spot and its innapropriate to have called my Boss like that. All he said I could do was call back the original # and give them by social to make sure theres no old accounts... Wtf.. Then he tells me I really should do it because if collections is looking for me it means I owe money and it will affect my credit. UGH!!! How can I company that Ive never even used or thought of f*ck me over like this!

Rawrr..(Just so you know im a calm person, but when you make me angry like this I turn into a bear) now I dont know what to do, noway do I want to fork over my social. But being 22 I cant stand to have bad credit at this time in my life yikes.....

[newtogolf]

Collections people are ruthless and don't care who they call or speak to. I have received calls from them regarding my employees and family members.

Based on what you said they didn't break any laws as they did not disclose to your boss the reason for their call. It could be they were calling you because a relative or person with same last name as you owes them money and you were the only person they could find. I understand your anger and frustration, but if you have a good relationship with your boss, explain it to him, he'll understand. If this is something he's concerned about he might run a credit check on you which will verify for him that you are not late on any payments to Sovereign Bank.

[BostonSully]

Collections people are ruthless and don't care who they call or speak to. I have received calls from them regarding my employees and family members.

Thanks man. We are good buds, I dont think he doubts me.

Im just worried that in some round about way this could hurt my credit, which I have worked really hard to have a 750 at 22y.o. Im so busy right now I dont need to deal with this. Nor do I want to fork over my social to wolves such as collections people. Never, did they say this must've been a mistake. They just told me "You might hear back from us"... I know yelling at people like this never works but im really close to yelling at someone.

[James_Black]

how did they get your name and bosses work number if you've never dealt with them before?
how will it affect your credit if your not associated with them?

[newtogolf]

They just told me "You might hear back from us"... I know yelling at people like this never works but im really close to yelling at someone.

Sounds like they are trying to figure out if you're the guy they are looking for. You probably have the same name, and that's why they asked for SSN. As others have said, never, ever give your SSN out unless you know for certain who you're speaking to. They should have never asked for more than the last 4 digits. To be on the safe side I'd request a copy of your credit report to ensure you're not a victim if identify theft.

I had someone steal my credit card number and change the billing address and phone number of the card. I paid the card off, but left the account open. Someone charged about $2500 of electronics on the card, but I never knew about it until I was called by collections. Fortunately after a few weeks of working through the mess they agreed the charges were fraudulent and cleared up my credit. I now get quarterly reports to make sure nothing is on it that I don't know about.

[Stretch]

You should pull your credit report ASAP. Not to freak you out, but it is entirely possible that someone stole your identity and opened credit accounts in your name. Happens all the time. Go to annualcreditreport.com, which is the FTC-mandated site where you can get one free copy per year of your file at each of the three major credit bureaus. See the link below for details:

http://www.ftc.gov/freereports

[Yukari]

There is a chance that you may be dealing with an identity theft. You should ask for the details from Sovereign Bank. Just ask them what the last 4 digits of the SS is on the record. If it matches yours, then you need to dig deeper. If it doesn't match, I would ignore it completely and tell them that it is not your SS and that they got the wrong person.

[Yukari]

I see Stretch beat me to it regarding a possibility of identity theft...

[BostonSully]

@ James Black

No friggen clue.. Thats what ticked me off originally.

@ Stretch

Thanks im going to go do that as soon as I Can. Im unsure of how someone could've stolen my identity never have shared anything. I also work for a highly confidential financial firm so getting my ID stolen is bad. I bought a new IPOD from applestore online a few days ago hmm.


Thanks agian to everyone. I really hope this isnt happening to me and thats its simply a wrong-person thing. Ill keep posting as I find out more.

[zeg]

Just a piece of advice. It seems from the tone in your posts here that you are, quite understandably, very angry and somewhat emotionally "charged up" about this situation. It is hard to interpret message board posts, though, so it's quite possible I'm interpreting the tone of your messages incorrectly. If so, sorry.

When you're talking with people to resolve this, try to be sure you remain calm, professional, and objective throughout the conversation. The customer service agents you're talking to are not responsible for the situation, and the easiest way to get these things resolved is to make them understand what has happened and make them want to help you resolve it. Identity thefts and serious credit errors are still pretty rare, so many of these agents are probably not used to handling them. Don't be surprised if it takes a few minutes to explain to a new agent what the situation is each time you call. Staying calm and being patient even when they ask questions that don't make sense given that you haven't actually done business with them will only help your cause. It may feel natural or good to be snarky or rude, but that will only hurt you in achieving your goal of resolving the issue.

I had to deal with a situation where a life insurance company was accidentally billing my checking account instead of one at the same bank that differed by a single digit. It took quite some time to resolve, and during the initial phone call to their customer service line it was very difficult to get the rep to understand what I was talking about. Apparently, "You have been billing me $25 a month, even though I'm not a customer" was not something they dealt with every day.

Other thoughts: It is good that you did not give your SSN, do not under any circumstances do so. You may want to contact Sovereign Bank directly, using the phone number from their web site, and try to verify whether the number that you were given in the email is actually their phone number. Finally, if they continue attempting to contact you, I would suggest that you insist they do so in writing to the address they have on file for you, but I would not provide them any further personal information.

[jamo]

The SSN is definitely a red flag. Not only check you credit reports but possibly your credit/debit card statements (online if possible, as they are most up to date) and call their corporate office or go to one of their branches. Also, as zeg said, stay calm. Being outwardly pissed off gets you no where.

[Arthur]

You might go to Clark Howard's web site. He's a consumer advocate and has a radio talk show. He deals with a lot of similar issues. One thing he advises is to send a letter (certified) asking for copies of all documentation showing the details of this "debt". Also something about if they report a bogus debt to a credit reporting agency you will suit them to the fullest extent of the law.

I don't remember all the details but you should be able to ferret it out on his website.

[BostonSully]

Well I checked my Credit Report, Nothing fishy showed up. Few.... I Guess now I just play the waiting game.

Sorry for the frenzy of posts about this. You guys were right though It wouldve been bad if I handled this on fri. while I was still angry.. The best way to describe how I felt is

[srjorion]

I had a collections agency call me repeated times because someone else had the same name as I in the same city. I kept telling them it wasn't me. Finally, after about four calls I simply explained that I wasn't going to speak to the caller and asked for the supervisor right off the bat. Once I had the supervisor I explained that I wasn't the person with the account they were looking for and that I wanted them to stop calling me. The supervisor asked me for my SSN and I said I wasn't about to give that out to someone who called me for security reasons. I then asked them to give me the SSN they were looking for instead. I was surprised when he told me. I confirmed that wasn't me and I never heard from them again.

SRJ

[double_j]

If you're worried about your boss' impression of the phone call, you can innocently go back to him for more details. Just say something like "Hey, XXX. When you spoke to Sovereign bank about me, what specifically did they ask? I don't have any accounts, etc. with them and when I called them back they said there was no record but asked for my SS#."

[ghalfaire]

This morning when I walk into the office and sit at my cube my boss comes over to me pretty quickly. 'Hey Dan this guy called for you from Sovereign Bank last night he sounded serious he said his name was Chuck'

In some states it is illegal for a collection agency to contact you at work or to contact your employer prior to a court hearing with you. If they ask you for your SSN it might be a scam but in either case I would the Attorney General's office and report this.